Table of Contents

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American Representation Study, 1958: Candidates (ICPSR 7226)

Principal Investigator(s):Miller, Warren E.; Stokes, Donald E.

Summary:

This dataset belongs to a three-part study on American
representation conducted shortly before and after the 1958
congressional election (see also AMERICAN REPRESENTATION STUDY, 1958:
CANDIDATE AND CONSTITUENT, PARTY [ICPSR 7292] and ICPSR AMERICAN
REPRESENTATION STUDY, 1958: CANDIDATE AND CONSTITUENT, INCUMBENCY
[7293]). This data collection concentrates on the candidates and
includes interviews with 251 candidates -- both incumbents and their
opponents -- from 146 districts. The questio... (more info)

This dataset belongs to a three-part study on American
representation conducted shortly before and after the 1958
congressional election (see also AMERICAN REPRESENTATION STUDY, 1958:
CANDIDATE AND CONSTITUENT, PARTY [ICPSR 7292] and ICPSR AMERICAN
REPRESENTATION STUDY, 1958: CANDIDATE AND CONSTITUENT, INCUMBENCY
[7293]). This data collection concentrates on the candidates and
includes interviews with 251 candidates -- both incumbents and their
opponents -- from 146 districts. The questions were designed to elicit
information on what the candidates considered to be the most important
issues of the campaign, their views on these issues, and their
perceptions of the positions of their constituents. The candidates
were also asked what influenced them and what they felt influenced the
outcome of the campaign. Derived measures calculate 85th Congress
roll-call scores on social welfare, foreign involvement, and civil
rights issues. Roll-call data and information on committee activities
of the congressmen are also provided. The two combined candidate and
constituent files (ICPSR 7292 and 7293) contain the same candidate
information as this collection, but are structured around the district
as the unit of analysis. Demographic information on candidates
includes sex, race, year of birth, size of birthplace, highest
graduate degree, prior occupations, public offices previously held,
several indices of spatial mobility, religious preference, and ethnic
background.

Access Notes

These data are available only to users at ICPSR member institutions. Because you are not
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will be able to download these data.

Dataset(s)

Study Description

Citation

Miller, Warren E., and Donald E. Stokes. AMERICAN REPRESENTATION STUDY, 1958: CANDIDATES. Conducted by University of Michigan, Survey Research Center. ICPSR ed. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [producer and distributor], 197?. http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR07226.v1

Universe:
Incumbents to the 85th United States House of
Representatives, their opponents, and any third candidates
associated with the 1958 congressional elections.

Data Types:
survey data

Data Collection Notes:

1) Sixty-five districts from self-representing primary
statistical units (PSUs) and six from non-self-representing PSUs were
weighted four times. The remaining 80 districts, all from
non-self-representing PSUs, were weighted seven times. The weights
produce a sample reflecting the distribution of congressmen and
congressional candidates throughout the United States. The 251
respondents included in the present study were weighted to 1,364. 2)The codebook is provided by ICPSR as a Portable Document Format (PDF) file. The PDF file format was developed by Adobe Systems Incorporated and can be accessed using PDF reader software, such as Adobe Acrobat Reader. Information on how to obtain a copy of the Acrobat Reader is provided on the ICPSR Web site.

Methodology

Sample:
The sample was drawn from the 187 districts partly or
entirely included in the Survey Research Center's sampling frame for
AMERICAN NATIONAL ELECTION STUDY, 1958 (ICPSR 7215). From multiple
stratification within self-representing and non-self-representing
primary sampling units, a total of 151 districts and 285 candidates
were selected for inclusion in this study. For a response rate of 88
percent, 251 individuals from 146 districts were actually interviewed
and are included in the candidates file.

Data Source:

personal interviews

Extent of Processing: ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of
disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major
statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to
these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection: